Maurice Boney Jr., 19, was sentenced to serve 40 years for first degree murder, use of a firearm in commission of a felony and conspiracy to commit a felony.

The sentence is above the high-end of the Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines’ recommendation for the crimes, which the judge called “heinous” and “barbaric.”

Police linked Boney to the murder of Christine Bender, who was shot in front of her Campion Court home early on the morning of December 4, 2016.

Detectives said Boney told them he and his friend Nicholas Cates went driving around the morning of December 4 because Cates said he ‘wanted to find someone to kill.’ Boney told detectives they ended up on Campion Court and saw Bender outside her house, smoking.

According to Boney, the men pulled up to Bender and asked her for a lighter. Boney told detectives that he and Cates lit their cigarettes and as Bender was walking back towards her house, Cates shot her 5 to 7 times.

When officers were called to Bender’s house around 2 a.m., they took her to the hospital but she died as a result of her injuries.

Friends and neighbors told News 3 that Bender was a kindhearted woman who made up a large part of their close-knit community.